This disclosure relates to a lateral support assembly for attachment to a wheelchair.
Lateral supports can be attached to the back of a wheelchair in order to provide an individual seated in the wheelchair with improved support on the sides of his or her trunk or torso, for example, in order to align the trunk above the pelvis. Conventionally, each lateral support is affixed to the back of the wheelchair or on one of the vertically-extending canes of the wheelchair on opposing lateral sides of the user. From the point of connection to the chair, each support then extends forwardly and medially to a support pad at the free end of the support. This pad is positioned for abutment to a side of the user.
Often, the lateral support includes some type of adjustable bracket between the point of connection of the support to the chair and the free end having the pad. This bracket can permit for the pad to be spatially positioned relative to the connection point on the wheelchair so that the pad appropriately contacts and supports the specific user's body based on the shape and size of the body.
Because the function of the lateral support is primarily to provide support, most lateral supports having brackets are not very dynamic in their forms of adjustment. Usually, the bracket merely consists of a series of metal plates fastened to one another via various fastener components (for example, bolts and corresponding nut type elements) in order to fix the plates in position relative to one another. In some instances, the lateral support may also have a single releasable hinge point to permit the pad to temporarily swing distally outward to accommodate loading or unloading of a user into the chair.